PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standard)

PA-DSS stands for Payment Application Data Security Standard, which is a global security standard administered by the PCI Security Standards Council. The primary goal of PA-DSS is to assist software vendors in developing payment applications that are secure and compliant with data protection regulations. Specifically, PA-DSS guides the development of applications that handle cardholder data related to payment transactions to ensure that these applications do not store prohibited data, such as full magnetic stripe, card verification code, or PIN data.

The objectives of PA-DSS include:

For software vendors, compliance with PA-DSS means their payment applications, when implemented as intended, help merchants and other entities achieve PCI DSS compliance. This compliance is particularly relevant when it comes to the secure handling of payment transactions, safeguarding sensitive data, and ultimately protecting the consumer.

PA-DSS compliance requires payment applications to:

By fulfilling these requirements, payment applications can significantly reduce the potential attack vectors for data theft and fraud, enhancing the overall security of electronic payments.